The Imperial Moth eggs (Eacles imperialis) we purchased from a New York breeder arrived today. Today we had Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis) eggs arrive from a New York breeder that were presumably laid on 8/2. The eggs came by envelope in a metal tube with cotton stuffed on one end. We had actually purchased 3 dozen (36) eggs but our very generous seller gave us 52, 16 extras since this species apparently has a relatively low hatch rate compared to other Saturniids. After taking all the eggs out, we put them in a petri dish and set them in a safe place with no direct sunlight. Below are pictures of the eggs. They are a shiny yellow and some have a little brown on the edges. A few have very faint whitish crescent which should be the developing caterpillar. The actual shell of the eggs seems to be translucent but the yolk inside gives them color; in some you can even see air bubbles inside. All the eggs should be alive so far since none have collapsed and are all yellow in color meaning they are developing (fresh eggs are white). It's been about 10 days since they were laid, so they should be hatching any day now. Just some background information on the Imperial Moth -- it is one of North America's largest moths with a wingspan approaching 6 inches and a caterpillar length approaching 4 inches. It's native range is in eastern North America but has become increasing scarce in the northern parts of its range. Like the other members of the Ceratocampinae and also Sphingidae, the caterpillars pupate in an earthen chamber. Also, like all Saturniidae and some Sphingidae (Smerinthinae), the adults lack feeding mouth parts and devote their short lifespan to reproduction. We wanted to try rearing this species for multiple reasons. First, we really wanted to try a member of the Royal Moths (Ceratocampinae) since we had previously only tried Saturniinae. Also, it's a huge and attractive moth, larger than the Cecropia Moth by weight and wingspan despite that the latter is often cited as North america's largest moth because it has the largest wing surface area. And finally, for convenience purposes, we will be graduating high school in the spring of 2017 and really need to rear as many species as possible before we leave for college, preferably THIS year so we can see the adult moths eclose the following spring. It's quite late in the season to begin rearing caterpillars, but for the Imperial Moth, this is still an appropriate time since the adults are usually on the wing from June-August in the northern parts of its range. However, despite that this is the normal breeding time for this species, we are in a bit of a dilemma for choosing host plants. We have plenty of pine (Pinus) growing around here, and even a small one in our yard that we could sleeve up, but apparently pine, though a commonly utilized host, is not as nutritious as deciduous hosts and produces smaller adults. However, we are afraid the deciduous hosts around here such as sweet gum (Liquidambar) might lose their leaves by the time the caterpillars are mature in early October. Another host is oak (Quercus), but the evergreen Coast Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) here usually have poor quality leaves that are extremely tough and prickly (can pierce skin), and the Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) that we are currently feeding our Polyphemus caterpillars is too far to pick from everyday once school starts and might lose its leaves soon just like the sweet gum. Besides pine, sweet gum, and oaks, there are a few other hosts we could use but all are not very common such as maple (Acer). However, according to a Utah breeder (not the one we purchased from), Imperial caterpillars will accept and actually produce the largest (yes, largest) moths on willow (Salix) despite that this is not a reported host in the wild. If this is true, then we are in luck because there are some extremely high quality willow trees here that are probably evergreen. So far we are probably just going to stick with with pine, sweet gum, and/or willow when they hatch. We will try moving them onto willow first, but if this fails then we will move most on pine and some on sweet gum. - Alan
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |